Regulator for brake rigging



` Sept. 2, 1931.

` w. H. SAUVAGE REGULATOR FOR BRAKE RIGGING Filed Aug. 16. 1928 2 SheeLs-Sheet l gnam/nto@ Sept., 29, 1931. w. H. sAUvAG 1,325,366

REGULATOR FOR BRAKE RIQGING Filed Aug. 16, 1928 2 Sheets-sneer 2 u /n l l O i "l 5 In/manto@ WH 0.3 1f-wee ,M 6 f M2 fm? J L m. m I `Z n a n 7 6 6 A /IFN Kv/////// 1|... g o 1:?! 6 M ULO 6 5 di in@ o M 8 AV zuil Patented Sept. 29, 1931 4UNITI-:D STATES PATENT jfl- WiLLIAM H. sAUvAGE, or NEW YORK; N. Y., AssiGNon, BY mEsNE lAssIorNiurziv'is,,'ro;`

ROYAL RArLWAY nurRovnii/rEN'rs CORPORATION, or NEWYORK, N.,Y., A conrona- TION OF DELAWARE nnGULAfroaron isa-AXE nrGGrNe Application led August 18, 1928. Serial Nol 299,977.1"V Y This invention relates to regulators for` the brake rigging of railway vehicles and more `particularly to a manual and pneumatic regulator as distinguished from automatic devices which have lheretofore been attemptvention may be had and of the various objects sought to be accomplished, it may be stated that the present invention so far as its pneumatic features are concerned are entirely 4under the control of the engineer, and primarily permits the pneumatic regulation of the brakes of all of the cars of a train in an accurate and reliable manner while and when the train is being made up and the auxiliary reservoirs on each car are being charged. Thus the brakes of a train of one. hundred oars, more or less, may be accurately adjusted to op erate with the same identical pressure and each car will thereafter have'the same'piston travel and. brake shoe clearance. 1 y

Itis therefore one of the objects ofthe present invention to provide a -relatively simple and practical mechanism associated with the train pipe of eaclrcar, and preferably the foundation brake rigging,- whereby asthe auxiliaryreservoirsof each car are being charged,tlie initial low pressure during the charging operation will pneumatically control certain instrumentalities, thereby to regulate the entire brake rigging of that car.

Each car in the entire train equipped ,with the invention is simultaneously regulated and the variations heretofore incident to intermittent manual regulation are entirely elimcxpense results.

inated, and a great saving in time, labor and A further 'object is to provide a mecha,

iiisin of the above general character adapted to'liave associated therewith certainstandard forms of manually actuated brake regulators now in general use,itogetlier with such mechanism as to pneumatically actuate these brake regulators during the charging of the auxilq iary reservoirs. Y

A further obj ect of the present invention vis to provide a pneumaticallyactuatedregulating means of the above character adapted gto obviate certain objections heretofore incident to automatic slack adj usters whichhave beenf;

operated when the piston travel exceededA its:A

normal predetermined distance. Such niefcli.- anisnis have proven unreliable due primarily to the fact thatit wasattempted to adjusttheA brakes automatically on every application of. the power brakes which has proven ldisastrous due to the unreliable functioning of the de-v vice by reason of the 4various pressures usedV during* different applications, such. 1as isV n'orf mal andV emergency brakeV applications. V,As

vis wellknown, when. a car is` runninggsuclr4 automatic regulatorsl function regardless of..l the cylinder pressure which may be any-where from five v to eighty-five pounds, depending f upon the train-'line pressure. i. This-together .Y

with variations in brake rigging, lost motion in' various working parts'as well as thecar structure, make suchV attemptedautomatic justment,l vary to an inaccurate, unreliable., and dangerous condition'. It is accordingly a further object of .the present invention tol overcometheseobjections by the production g of a relatively inexpensive and uniformlyop.-` l

from

`This invention accordingly consists 1in the features of Y construction, combination` of parts and in the unique relation of the members and in the relative proportioning and dispositionthereof, all as more completely outlined herein. i To enable others skilled in the"V arti fully comprehend the underlying features; Vthereof that theyinay embody., thepsame lby the numerous modifications in structure and.' relation contemplated by this Vinvention, drawings `depicting' several desired forms .of y.

the invention have been annexed as a part-fof this disclosure, and in such drawings, likeL charactersv of referencedenote correspond-` ing parts throughout all ofthe views, in`

of the complete mechanism showing such parts as are necessary to fully understand the invention as applied to the central foundation brake gear.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the mechanism as applied to a truck brake rigging.

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing a different arrangement of foundation brake gear with the invention applied thereto.

Fig. 4 is asimilar view of the parts shown in Fig. 1, in actuated position.

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view of the control valve shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a sectional detailed view ot a cut out valve.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and more particularly to Fig. 1 showing standard foundation brake rigging and air brake mechanism, the numeral 10 indicates the main train pipe of the air brake s ystem running from the locomotive and car to car through to the last car, and when the auX- iliary reservoir 11 of each car is being charged prior to starting out a train, the air flows from this train pipe through a strainer 12. a cut-out valve 13, a triple valve 14 and thence to this reservoir 11 to charge the same to the desired pressure which may be assumed to be seventy pounds. Intermediate the train pipe and reservoir 11, there is located a branch pipe 15 and an automatic controlvalve 16 shown in detail in Fig. 5. Adjacent thiscontrol valve is a cylinder 17 provided with a piston 18 and piston rod 20 connected at 21to one end of the dead cylinder lever 22. This cylinder lever is, as is well known to those skilled in the art, provided with a pull rod 23 at its opposite end going to one truck brake rigging while :the rod 24 i is connected to a live cylinder lever 25, actuated by means of a telescoping piston rod 26 to in turn actuate a pull rod 27 connected with the other truck brake rigging.

As herein shown, the air brake cylinder 28 is provided with a piston 30 forced outwardly by air passing through pipe 31 from the auxiliary reservoir 11 when the brakes are applied. This piston 30 is provided with a telescopic'piston rod 32 having acollar at its end 33 adapted to engage an abutment 34 at the outer end of the piston rod 26. In other words. the piston preferably has a predetermined movement ot approximately three or four inches before the collars 33 and 34 coact actually to apply the brakes. This construction while nota-bsolutely essential is nevertheless highly desirable, as fully explained in my prior patents, for by reason of the lost motion between the piston head 30 and the piston rod 26 the live and dead cylinder levers which are supported in hangers 60 and 61 are maintained in such predetermined relation as to make' it impossible to insert new brake shoes between the brake beams and perlpheries of the wheels without first releasing the regulator mechanism. This feature has many obvious advantages in that the insertion of new brake shoes attempted without the release 01"' the regulator mechanism would cause dragging brakes with consequent heated and cracked wheels as well as short piston travel. Hand brake mechanisrn is connected to the piston rod by means of chain 35 as indicated diagrammatically.

As the'low pressure air from the train pipe 10 and branch pipe 15 passes through the con-- trol valve 16, hereinafter described in detail, the piston 18 is moved towards the left. thereby carrying the dead lever a corresponding amount and sett-ing the brake shoes firmly against the wheels of both trucks. There is indicated at S6 a manually actuated regulator of that typeillustrated and described in my Patent No. 1,681,053, issued August 14, 1928.

lt any excess ,travel exists anywhere in the brake rigging, the movement of the piston 18 will actuate this regulator 36 in exactly the same manner as though. the operator were to `grasp the handle 37 and move the same manually, as explained in said patent.

lt'this typo oi regulator is not being used, the brakes may be equally well regulated at cach. truck as indicated in Fig. 2, that is, air Vfromd the branch pipe 1.5 passes through a similar control valve 16 connected with a pipe 4() which communicates with a cylinder 41 to actuate a piston 42 connected at its end by a cross head with a ratchet bar 44 forming part of a regulator 45 mounted upon the draft sill and flexibly connected as by means ot linkage 46 with a dead lever 47 of the truck brake rigging as shown in Fig. 2. This regulator .45v is of that type illustrated and de scribed in my Patent, No. 1,681,052, issued August 14, 1928. y

The control valve 16 which is connected with the pipe 15 or the pipe 40 according to the type ot installation is illustrated in Fig. 5 and comprises a casing 50 having a slide 51. l/Jhen the air enters this valve casing thru a restricted port 52.v it leaks past the slide valve and out through a port 53 into the cylinder 17, Fig. 1, thus forcing the piston 18 inwardly to move the foundation brake ri and cause the slices to engage the peripheries of the wheels, as explained. It any excess travel occurs or exists over that provided For by the slot 39. Fig. 1, then ot course theregulator 36 performs its take-up function. A spring 54 engaging the rear side ot a piston 55 controls the position of the slide valve 51 and offers a low pressure resistance against the travel ot the air-tight piston 55. However, when the air in the auxiliary rcservoir 11 .has been charged to a pressure of approximately thirty-five pounds. then the resistance of the spring 54 is overcome and the slide valve 51 moves towards the lett against a leather gasket 56 sealing the casing aannemer 16,. At the same ,time7 .a cavity .57 inthe slide valve Acoverstheoutlet port '53 and-coniA nects this port with ian exhaust port 5B, Athus- Y Vpermi-tting theair to drain from the' actual` ying cylinder 17 into the atmosphere',v thereby permittingr the dead `Cylinder lever Q2 to re lease to the extent of the lost motion device in the regulator,regardless of its type. 'lheY regulator piston 18 will thereaffterremain vin this released 'position While the auxiliary reservoirs are being oharged,afs Wel-'l as during:

the subsequent operation of thebrakes'; in

fact it has no other function to perform be 1 cause only in 'rare instances will the 'pressure in the 'reservoir drop below thirty-live pounds, and -at'such 'times can do no harin. f

It Willt-hus be seen that the present invention operates the regulators-of each car pneu-'4 matioally instead of manually While the car ocars may be regulated and adjusted in eX- actly the same Way and with the same pressure on eaehregu-lator `which will not vary like the human element; infact the brakes ofthe entire train may be regulated in less than a minute and thus the tremendous savlng 'in time, labor and expense Willl wbe parent. y

In Figure 43 there is shown a slightly dit ferent arrangement of foundation brake levers such as used `on passenger cars." rlhe pistonr'od Q6 is connected with" the live lever Q5 which in turn is connected by atie rod 24 Vwith a Vdead lever 62, oppositely positioned 'from the arrangement shown in Figure 1,*

that is, the fixed end of the leveris pivotally mounted in a slotted member' at one Vend of aregulating ratchet Irodil; passing through the regulator casing 45, which is of the saineVV construction `as show-n in Figure 2. Y This ratchet rod isaotuated by means :oi the same type of cylinder 4i fand piston 42 from air f admitted through a pipe '1"5 andeont-rol valve indicated at '156. Y

Figure Il is substantially the same as'the" arrangement shown in Figure except 'the piston is reversed, thereby `doingawayI with leaky stuiling boxes. Thisl feature of construction comprises a biurcated rod 66 connected With opposite sides of the dead Cylinder leverQQl at the point 67 and passes above and below the cylinder 65l ,and isrconneeted at its ends `'bya cross headGS with the lpiston rod Within the cylinder. `Thus Whenair .1S-l actuatedr,meansbeing connected: with the i admitted through the pipe 1'5 it will force the `piston 70 towards the letfandactuate the' regulator F36 'in thfmfmnet hepetoigr characterdescribedin feombination, abrake leveiga pneumatically actuated "piston" .for movingsaidbiake dover; means associated therewith 'including a lost motiondevice-for described.` A

In Figure 6 there isillu'strated finsectiona cuteout valvel which :maybe interposedbe- Any number V claims.

easilymanuallyoperated; v. 1, '1n all of @these several embodiments v the i general principles and Constructions involved 'i are substantially-the same, thatis on eharg` ing the auxiliary reservoirs :of the several cars composing a `train :the initialflow pres-` sure 1 air Swilfl `pnemnatiealljy`- regulate .the brakesofzeach car to :aj uniform extent and pressure and when :this pressure .asit builds upv exeeedsia Vcertain predetermined .amount then Vthe air'ftothe'regulatingcontmi valve isi out fed, *thev auxiliaryI reservoirs: charged v to i their full extent, andthe pneumatic Vdevices drain to the atmosphereback through the control valvef f1 :in r.

. lVithout further an. lysis theforegoingwill 1 so jfully reveal 'the gist ofithis invention `that othersl canpby: -rapplyingr current y knowledge readily adapt it for various :applications without omitting certain features that, from the standpoint of fthe prior art, fairlynonsti-y tu-te yesseritia vfcharaeteristi-cs i of. the .generic or sp'coilic `aspects of this invention, .and there foresuoh adaptations should .and are int/end edfto vbe conlprehended ivithin `the meaning andf Tangent' equivalent-y lof the following feature and permit the 'regulator to be morey y l. Inra. bralefregulating `devine-,nf the` character describedyin combination, a .brake leueign manuallyaetuated regulator includ` ingr a lost motion devieenconnected to `Jsaid lever,`fand 4pneumatically actuated means for actuating said regulator.,` i i' Acharacterdescribedpihcombination, a brake t the train Lp'ipevand adaptedjeo Ydivertida. por v tion of the airleading to said: 'auxiliary reservoir fori' actuatmg said pneumatically Ina brakeiiregliliating device off the character .describedgin combinationyabrake' "L lever, a manually actuated regulator ineluding lostmotionI idevic'e foonnected to" said lever, 4and :Vpneuinaticallyactuated ymeans for actuating' said reppur-'lator said pneumatically lbrafkef r regulatmghdevice kot the y permanently; holding." any `.eireess travel' 'exceeding -the 'lost lmotion'c'levce, al train pipe, an' Aau)filiaryfreseaiv'oizr Y, adaptecl to charged therefiiom; Landi' control nalve .nominated I with the train pipe and adapted to divert a portion of the air leading to said auxiliary reservoir for actuating said pneumatically controlled piston, said control valve including a casing, a spring actuated piston in said casing, inlet and outlet ports to said casing, and a valve connected with the piston for effectively closing the inlet port and allowing the outlet port to drain to the atmosphere.

'5. In a brake regulating device of the character described, in combination, a brake lever, a manually'actuated regulator con` nected to said lever, pneumatically actuated means for actuating said regulator, said pneumatically actuated means being connected with the train pipe of the car, and a control valve interposed between the train pipe and the pneumatically actuated member adapted to permit the latter to actuate only at low pressure.

6. In a brake regulating device of the character described, in combination, a brake lever, a pneumatically actuated member connected with said lever and adapted to move the same, a permanent take-up and holding` device associated with said lever for absorbingiany excess travel over and above brake shoe clearance, a train pipe and a control valve for actuating said pneumatically actu- -ated member at low pressure and autolnatically cut out said pneumatically actuated member when the train pipe pressure reaches a predetermined point.

7. In a brake regulating device of the character described, in combination, a brake lever,l a manually actuated regulator connected to said lever, and pneumatically actuated means or actuating said regulator, said pneumatically actuated means being connected with the train pipe of the car, and a control valve interposed between the train pipe and the pneumatically actuated member adapted to permit the latter to actuate only at low pressure, saidcontrol valve including a casing having inlet and outlet ports, and a valve within the casing for effectively closing the inlet port and allowing the outlet port to drain to the atmosphere.

8. In a brake regulating device of the character described, in combination, a brake lever, an air brake cylinder, a'piston in said cylinder having a lost motion movement prior to the actuation of said lever, a regulator having a lost motion device connection with said lever, and a pneumatically actuated member connected with said lever and regulator and also the train pipe whereby said regulator may be actuated by air from thev train pipe.

9. In a brake regulating device ofthe character described, in combination, a brake lever, a manually actuated regulator'connected with said lever and havinga lost motion device for insuring brake shoe clearance, pneumatically actuated means including a piston connected with said lever for moving the same whereby excess travel is taken up by said regulator, a train pipe, a control valve interposed between the train pipe and the pneumatically actuated member adapted to function at low pressure whereby said brakes are regulated pneumatically while the auxiliary reservoir being charged from said train pipe.

l0. In a brake regulating device of the character described, in combination, a brake lever. an air brake cylinder, a piston in said cylinder' having a lost motion movement prior to the actuation of said lever, a regnlator having a lost motion device connection with said lever, a pneumatically actuated member connected with said lever and regu- .later and also the train pipe whereby said regulator may be actuated by air from the train pipe, and a control valve between the train pipe 21nd the pneumatically actuated member adapted to permit actuation of the latter only during the low pressure charging or' the auxiliary reservoir.

l1. In a brake regulating device of the character described, in combination, a brake lever, an air brake cylinder, a piston in said cylinder having a lost motion movement prior to the actuation of said lever, a regulator having a lest'motion device connection with said lever, a pneumatically actuated member connected with said lever and regulator and also the train pipe wherebyv said regulator may be actuated by air from the train pipe. and a control valve between the train pipe and the pneumatically actuated member adapted to permit actuation of the latter only duringl the low pressure charging of the auxiliary reservoir, said control valve including a spring actuated piston adapted to be pneumatically moved against the action of the spring when the pressure exceeds a predetermined amount thereby to open the exhaust port from said control valve to the atmospliere.

12. In a brake regulating device of the character'described. in combination, a brake lever, a pneumatically actuated regulator including a lost motion device connected to said lever, and pneumatically actuated means for actuating said regulator, said pneumatically actuated means having a valve associated therewith and adapted to be connected with the train pipe, thereby to operate only at low pressure.

13. In abrake regulating device of the characterdescribed. in combination, a brake lever, a pneumatically actuated regulator in eluding a lost motion device connected to said lever, pneumatically actuated means for actuating said regulator connected with the train pipe, and a low pressure valve associated with said parts adapted to permit operation of said pneumatically actuated means only at low pressure.

14. In a brake regulating device of the character described, in combination, a brake lever, `a pneumaticallyY actuated regulator connected to said lever, pneumatically actuated means for actuating said regulator, a pneumatic cylinder and piston connected with said lever, a train pipe, and a valve connected between the train pipe and the cylinder adapted to cause an actuationV of the regulator kduring charging of the System.

l5. In combination with the foundation brake rigging including an lairbrake cylinder, a piston rod and a cylinder and floating lever, of means for taking up the excess travel in the rigging comprising a movable support for the normally fixed end of the floating cylinder lever, a pawlA and ratchet device asSO- ciated with said means, and an auxiliary cylinderand piston rod adapted to move the movable support for said lever and cause said pawl to move to a new position on said rack when and if excess travel exists, said last piston rod being connected to said floating cylinder lever substantially at its normally ixed end. l

16. In combination with the foundation brake rigging including an airbrake cylin der, a. piston rod and a cylinder and floatingV lever, of means for taking up the excess travel in the rigging comprising a movable support for the normally fixed end of the floating cylinder lever, a Jawl and ratchet device associated with sai means having lost motion tor insuring brake shoe clearance, and an auxiliary cylinder and piston rod adapted to move the movable support for said lever and cause said pawl to move to a new position on said rack when and if excess travel exists, said last piston rod being connected to said floating cylinder lever substantially at its normally fixed end, said cylinder lever being `provided with a means whereby it may be moved manually if and when desired to take up excess travel.

Signed at New York, New York, this 3rd v day of August, 1928.

WILLIAM H. SAUVAGE. 

